Exclusive: After 25 Years, "Cops" Moves to a New Network
May 6, 2013
by Michael Schneider


Calling all units: "Cops" is staking out a new home. After a landmark 25 seasons on Fox, the bad boys, bad boys of documentary/reality show will be moving to Spike TV this fall.

Spike TV has ordered 22 new episodes of "Cops", which will premiere its 26th season in September. The cable network will even air "Cops" in its familiar slot, Saturdays at 8/7c. Production has already begun in locations such as Sacramento, Sarasota, Fla., and Texas.





Executive producer John Langley tells TV Guide Magazine that the timing was right to make a change, as Fox had pre-empted "Cops" for most of this season in favor of sports.

"Fox is changing its programming strategy," Langley says. "So I was happy to find a new home with Spike. It matches our demo and it's an aggressive cable network. It's appointment viewing and people know we're on Saturday nights. They just have to turn the dial a little bit."





Spike TV president Kevin Kay says he approached Langley a few years ago about acquiring "Cops", but the producer wanted to make it through 25 seasons on Fox before entertaining a move. Kay and Langley spoke again this spring, and a deal was quickly reached.

"It's the perfect show for Spike," Kay says. "We want the fans to just shift over hopefully effortlessly."





Spike TV has also struck a deal to license some older "Cops" repeats that will be paired with the new ones. Kay says he'll initially air back-to-back originals of "Cops" to form a full hour. But eventually, Spike will pair repeats with originals, just like Fox did for years.

With "Cops" in place, Kay hopes to establish a new night of programming on Saturdays, where the channel currently airs movies. "In the short term, we'll air repeats of our original series behind Cops," he says.

"But we'll eventually use Cops to build new original series."





When it does air, "Cops" continues to usually win its time period among viewers and adults 18-49.

"I expect to do the same at Spike," Langley says.

Kay promises that Spike TV has no plans to meddle with the "Cops" formula. "We told them, 'You guys know this better than we do.' It's perfect, we have a tremendous amount of trust."





It's the end of an era for Fox, which was still in its infancy when "Cops" debuted in 1989. The network aired "Cops" together with "America's Most Wanted" on Saturday nights for 14 years.

"AMW" moved from Fox to Lifetime in 2011 and has now been canceled. Spike TV also previously revived another Fox reality castoff, "World's Wildest Police Videos".





Langley produced the series "Undercover Stings" for Spike TV; he has other projects in development that he also hopes to bring to the cable channel.

Meanwhile, he's also looking forward to how Spike TV plans to drum up new interest in a 25-year-old franchise. "We'll have the promotion we never really had at Fox," he says.

"The attitude at Fox was always, 'Cops does so well without it, why promote it?' Imagine how well it would do with a little promotion. I'm looking forward to 25 more seasons. I'd like to break records all over again."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Cops-New-Network-Exclusive-1064971.aspx

"Cops" Executive Producers on Their Big Move to Spike TV
Sep 13, 2013
by Michael Schneider


The bad boys, bad boys are back — but on a new network. "Cops" launches its 26th season this Saturday at 8/7c on Spike TV, which grabbed the long-running documentary/reality show from Fox earlier this year.

Spike TV ordered 22 new episodes of "Cops" — the granddaddy of reality shows — and also struck a deal to license older repeats that will be paired with the new ones. "We've been energized by the move," says executive producer John Langley, who's been behind "Cops" since 1989.


TV Guide Magazine caught up with Langley and his son, Morgan Langley (also an executive producer), to see how the big switch is going.







What's it been like at Spike TV so far?

John Langley: Spike has been great. In all honesty, I don't think we could have found a better home for "Cops". I think they feel the same way. They've been running a bunch of our syndicated reruns and doing very well with them. And they're looking forward to doing even better with the first-runs.









Have they wanted to tweak the show or give you any notes?

John Langley: I talked to [Spike TV president] Kevin Kay personally, and I told him that there is one thing I'm not hot about, and it's listening to some young TV executive telling me how to do a show that I've been doing for 25 years.

And Kevin said, "I'll make that real easy for you. The only guy who you ever have to talk to about the show to is me." I appreciated their attitude and receptivity and Kevin's a great guy. Spike has been great.



Morgan Langley: That's one of the main reasons we decided to go with them and not even shop it around. They told us, "Look, we want the same show you have been doing. If it ain't broke." And they had the very simple strategy of keeping it on the same night in the same time slot, which we thought was great.



John Langley: So all of our fans can still find us on Saturday nights at 8.









There have been incremental changes to "Cops" over the years as the world of policing evolves. What's different this season?

John Langley: You know what we benefit from? We've identified over the years the best techniques and strategies to shooting. We've done our own research about when are the best times to film. Crime has a statistical reality like a lot of things and life. And we've figured out how to maximize the potential of getting good shows.

You can't make it happen, but you can certainly be there when it happens, if you use your experience. We've had great shows so far this season. In terms of high action, activity and interesting characters. We film in the prime time for crime.



Morgan Langley: "Cops" is a fairly large production, we've got a lot of guys out in the field. Everybody involved was excited about the move to Spike. We had been getting pre-empted by sports on Fox a lot of the time. And it felt like rejuvenation for everyone. Our guys were really excited to get out there this season and do something extra special for the new network.









Where do you guys head this season? I know you stop in Sacramento and Palm Springs.

John Langley: We also go to Palm Beach, Fla.; Indianapolis; Amarillo; Las Vegas; Beaumont, Texas. Quite a few. We're a road show. We're not going to change the essential format of "Cops". But it seems to me we have a little bit more action this year. A lot of chases, both foot chases and car chases.

And we've also had a lot of comedy, with fleeing fugitives who end up trying to pass themselves off as residents in homes they don't belong to. So we've had some comic twists. A lot of variations on the theme.









From a marketing perspective, do you feel like Spike has been getting the word out?

Morgan Langley: The other thing that I think is exciting is, the last ten years on Fox there had been zero promotion.


John Langley: Fifteen years.


Morgan Langley: There was no promotion to speak of. At Spike, it is exciting to see them focus on promotion a little bit and get the word out.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Cops-Move-Spike-1070296.aspx

Have they wanted to tweak the show or give you any notes?

John Langley: I talked to [Spike TV president] Kevin Kay personally, and I told him that there is one thing I'm not hot about, and it's listening to some young TV executive telling me how to do a show that I've been doing for 25 years.

And Kevin said, "I'll make that real easy for you. The only guy who you ever have to talk to about the show to is me." I appreciated their attitude and receptivity and Kevin's a great guy. Spike has been great.



Morgan Langley: That's one of the main reasons we decided to go with them and not even shop it around. They told us, "Look, we want the same show you have been doing. If it ain't broke." And they had the very simple strategy of keeping it on the same night in the same time slot, which we thought was great.

Spike president Kevin Kay clearly has the attitude that is probably not common enough in today's television industry: From what Cops producer John Langley described, it's very obvious that Kay likes Cops the way it is and respects Langley's desire not to be told how it should be done. As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." :)